Tools

The 1975, Republic of Lights, the Break

When: Wed., March 20, 8 p.m. 2013Price: $10

The four guys in this Manchester band approach arena rock the way an outsider artist might—they don’t even seem aware that their deconstructions of its powerful, soaring riffs are as odd in their own way as anything in an out-of-the-way avant-garde gallery. On the new Music for Cars EP (Vagrant/Dirty Hit) the 1975 balance these artsy leanings with the kind of grandiose anthems that could get an entire stadium of fans onto their feet, and it’s especially impressive how they move between those two poles while consistently sounding like the same group. The high point of the EP is the one-two combination of the ambient “Hnscc”—which sounds like a slowed-down tape of the Edge’s clean, reverb-draped guitar, halfway between shoegaze and the synth tones on the Drive soundtrack—and the catchy, thumping “Head.Cars.Bending,” with its pulsing rhythms, clean cloud-rap beats, and window-buzzing brostep bass drops. —Leor GalilRepublic of Lights and the Break open.